Spanish, referred to as 'Castellano (Castillian)' covers Latin American and Continental Spanish. Espanol is referred to when speaking to non-Spanish speakers.
The difference between Latin American Spanish and Continental (European) Spanish is slight, with only some variations on verbs and vocabulary used.
Written Spanish
Additions to Latin Alphabet: ch, ll, ñ, rr.
k only exists in foriegn words. All letters are feminine, 'la a'-the a
Spanish does not use capital letters for the month nor days of the week.
¡ is always used at the start of a statement ending with !
¿ is always used at the start of a question ending with ?
ª is an abreviation for feminine numbers/words, ie: 2nd so in Spanish would be: 2ª for "2nd door(feminine).
° is an abreviation for masculine numbers, ie: 2nd so in Spanish would be: 2ª for "2nd floor(masculine).
In Spanish a point is used as a coma; eg: 27,000 is 27.000 in Spanish.
Spanish accents
To type accents with ALT codes, hold down the ALT key, then on the numeric keypad type the three or four digits listed here. However not with laptops, ALT codes only work with the numeric keypad, NOT the row of numbers across the top of your keyboard, as on laptops.
a with acute accent
á ALT + 160 Á ALT
+ 0193
e with acute accent
é ALT + 130 É ALT
+ 144
i with acute accent
í ALT + 161 Í ALT
+ 214
n with tilde accent
ñ ALT + 165 Ñ ALT
+ 164
o with acute accent
ó ALT + 162 Ó ALT
+ 224
u with acute accent
ú ALT + 163 Ú ALT
+ 233
u with diaeresis accent
ü ALT + 129 Ü ALT
+ 154
ª abbreviation ending in a, commonly with addresses or numbers
ª ALT + 166
° abbreviation ending in o, commonly with addresses or numbers
° ALT + 167
? used at end of question and this at start:
¿ ALT + 130 + 144
! used at end of statement and this at start:
¡ ALT + 130 + 144
European Spanish
Catalan, Galician, Basque
Spanish is also referred to as 'Castellano' (Castilian Spanish) which is the main official language and spoken through-out Spain. Catalan, Basque and Galician are different to Castilian Spanish but are still official languages as well as Castillian Spanish in their own regions. Catalan and Galician are very similar to Castilian Spanish whereas Basque has no similarity.
Dialects of Spanish in Spain:
- Castilian Spanish (all of Spain)
- Catalan (Catalonia) - light green area
- Galician (Galicia) - light grey area
- Basque (Basque country) - light orange area
The map to the left shows Iran, the main Farsi speaking country.
Catalan includes the Eastern most corner of Spain (see map) as well as the Balearic islands. In the written form it is very similar to Castillain Spanish and can be easily read/understood.
Galician includes the north western region of Spain and is a mix of Spanish and Portuguese and is understood in its written form by both Portuguese and Spanish.
Basque, in the north east of Spain is not similar to Castilian Spanish and not understood by other speakers.
These regional languages within Spain are classified as co-official languages in their native regions along with Castilian Spanish. Although used by Local Government, Commerce will use Castilian Spanish, unless specifically aimed at that particular region. Castilian Spanish is widely spoken and used more widely in Commerce in these regions than their regional languages.
Latin American Spanish
South American countries:
- Columbia
- Venezuala
- Ecuador
- Peru
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Paraguay
- Uruguay
- Argentina
Central American countries:
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- El Salvador
- Nicaragua
- Costa Rica
- Panama
Caribbean countries:
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Nicaragua
- Costa Rica
- Panama